Vol XVIII, No. ioo. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



.31.7 



The Port of Bridgetown. 



An appreciative note on Brid^et'^wn, Barbados, 

 appears in the Weeldy Bulletin ot the Department 

 of Trade and Commerce, Canada, for July 28, 1919. 

 On the cover of the BuXUtin is reproduced a phouo- 

 graph of a typical view of the careenage, with the 

 steamers in the distance at anchor in the bay. 



The note states : ' Nearly every ship going to the 

 British West India colonies included in the Prefer- 

 ential Trade Agreement, whether from Canada, the 

 United States or England, calls at Bridgetown, Bar- 

 bados. The island of Barbados is only twenty-one 

 miles long, and its greatest width is only fourteen 

 and one-half wiles. The island has a population of 

 little less than 180,000, and every part of it may be 

 said to be cultivated, the production being chiefly 

 sugar and molasses. Bridgetown has a population 

 ©f about 0-5,000. There are many beautiful resi- 

 dences in the city and suburbs. In addition to being 

 the shopping district for the island of Barbados, 

 Bridgetown is a wholesale centre for all the Wind- 

 ward and Leeward Islands, and there are a number of 

 importing and exporting houses." 



Sponges from the British Virgin Islands. 



.Mr. A. E. Collens, actmg Superintendent >A 

 Agriculture for the Leeward Islands, has recently 

 forwarded an interesting report on his visit to Tortola 

 and other Virgin Islands during last June. In this 

 report reference is made to the occurrence locally of 

 marketable sponges. 



.Several types have been found growing in shallow- 

 water, but only one, the reef sponge, is regarded as 

 being of any value. Dredging m deep water, however, 

 might reveal the occurrence of the Velvet sponge. The 

 reef sponge occurs in isolated pieces attached to coral, 

 etc., and can always be recognized by the glossy, 

 velvety, black smooth skin, somewhat cone-!5haped 

 with large osculi. 



In March 1918, a Greek exploiter searched around 

 the shores of Peter Island and Norman Island, and his 

 hi^htst daily haul was between 300 and 400 sponges, 

 according to the report under notice. These were 

 hooked up or grained in shallow water and dived for 

 in the deeper parts. Specimens have been secured, 

 and it is hoped these will be forwarded for commercial 

 valuation. At the time of their collection the Greek 

 exploiter was giving 8 cents a sponge — an absurdly 

 low figure if the sponges are of any real commercial 

 value. 



There is but little doubt that the cultivation of 

 sponces, by means of cuttings attached to cement discs, 

 could be carried on successfully in certain areas of 

 shallow water in the Virgin Islands. It has been 

 stated officially that the whole question of sponge pro- 

 duction in the West Indies will shortly receive expert 

 attention, in which case consideration will no doubt be 

 given at an early date to "Jie in.itter in the Virgin 

 Islands. 



Rise and Progress of the Cane Sugar Industry, 

 An interesting survey of th<; rise and progress jf 

 the cane sugar industry, by Robert Harvev, 

 M.I.Mech.E., is published in the International Sw/ar 

 Jourual for August 131:^. In tliis, vJuablu iuforma- 

 tion from a historical, stiitistical, and other standpoints 

 as well, concerning the introduction of sugnr-cane 

 cultivation and the manufacture of sugar into the West 

 Indies, is given. It is stated that from the Canary 

 Islands and Maderia the cultivation of sugar-cane and 

 the art of making sugar were extended by ditiferenfi 

 European nations to the West Indian islands and the 

 Brazil? 



In the year 1790 the amount of sugar imported 

 from the West Indies into <5reat Britain was aboutj 

 100,000 tons : the price of this sugar was about £3-3 

 pel' ton, and the import duty charged was £12 per 

 ton, making the selling price of raw sugar in Britain 

 at that date £4.5 per ton. 



About 1.50 years ago the West Indies, we are told, 

 then in the possession of ^pain, Portugal, France and 

 Britain, were the largest producers and the centre of 

 the sugar industry of the world. Beetroot sugar 

 being unknown at that date, the sugar estates were 

 very small but in great numbers. The Portuguese 

 were the first growers of sugar-cane in the West Indies. 

 Immediately on their discovery of the islat;d of St. 

 Thomas they started this industry, and in l.')20 this 

 little island had sixty small sugar works, and produced 

 a large ijuantity of sugar for those early days. 



In 1641 sugar-canes were transplanted from 

 Biazil to Birbados, and thence to other West Indian 

 islands. The sugar made in Barbados at first, it is 

 stated, was so bad that it was considered scarcely worth 

 sending to England, being full ot molas.ses. In 16.50 

 it had improved in quality but could not compete with, 

 that made in Brazil. Sugar was made by the 

 British in the island of St. Christopher (St. Kitts) in 

 1643 by the French in Guadeloupe in 16.57. 



References to the very crude methoil ot extracting 

 the juice from the cane in the West Indies and the 

 manufacture of the sugar in vogue two hundred and fifty 

 years ago should prove interesting reading to those con- 

 cerned in the operations of sugar factories in the pre.senU 

 day. No less interesting should be the reproduced 

 sugar account of a plantation in Jamaica which 

 shows the price of muscovado sugar in the year 17LS 

 to be £40 per ton in London, freight, duty, and all 

 expenses paid, the planter netting, however, only .£.S0 per 

 ton. By the then method of manufacture, 100 gallons 

 of juice produced 100 to 120tt>. of sugar, according to 

 the density of the Juice and care in manufacture. The 

 result of working a sugar estate in the West Indies 

 in the days of slavery is also given. This was an estate 

 in Barbados in the year 1822. It consisted of 314 

 acres, of which 80 acres were planted with sugar-cane. 

 The entire labour consisted of negro slaves — men, 

 women, aud children, in all L50 persons, to which was 

 added white supervision and two white servants; the 

 gross revenue is stated is £7,1.58 in round numbers, 

 and the total expenses £3,202 (Barbados Currency). 



