ToL. VII. No. 149. 



THE AGItlUULTURAL NEWS. 



U 



Westmorelauil planters might obtain vciy [notitalile returns 

 from ratoon.s. 



Fields that undergo inundation from river water, and in 

 which tliis picking is practised, ha\e ratooned well for thirty 

 years. Nasebury piece on ilasemure estate, which is subjected 

 to inundation from Canaan Hiver, was planted in 1865. It 

 now yields 1 ton of sugar per acre, and this return is estimated 

 to be more profitable than would be expected from yearly 

 renewal with plant canes, which would result in a yield of 

 about 2 tons of sugar per acre. 



On my estate Kew, in Hanover, which is subject to 

 inundations from the CTeorgia River, there is an area of 150 

 acres of canes, the date of planting of which cannot be ascer- 

 tained, since it is not within the remembrance of the oldest 

 inhaljitants of the neighbourhood, but it has been found that 

 ratooning after picking has given good results. 



As an expei-iment at the request of one of my overseers, 

 several fields of canes were cut clean, and all canes removed 

 from them liy carts, and cattle were allowed to graze over 

 them in a simdar manner to that now practised in the Vere 

 district of Jamaica. 



The results showed that the fields which were cut clean 

 gave but light crops as ratoons, and it took them fully three 

 years to come wp to the standard of the ren)ainder of the 

 estate, where ' picking ' or ' selective cane reaping ' had been 

 practised, thus showing that the system briefly described 

 above is worthy of careful consideration at the hands of sugar 

 growers 



Sug^ar Industry in the Leeward Islands. 



Interesting particular.s as lo the condition and 

 progress of the agricultural in(lu.«tiies in the Leward 

 Islands are given in the AirnunJ Bcport on the colony 

 for the ye;\Y 1906-7. The following form the chief notes 

 in relation to the sugar industry : — 



Sugar continues to be the chief industry in Antigua and 

 >St. Kitt's ; in Nevis and Montserrat it is in a decadent 

 condition. This condition has ju.st lately been accentuated 

 in Nevis by the fact that one of the principal estates has 

 ceased to make sugar, and another — the largest in the island 

 — has discontinued planting this crop, and will cease to make 

 it as soon as the crops now planted yield no more canes. It 

 has been suggested that a central sugar factory would lestore 

 the industry, but it is difficult to ol)tain the necessary capital 

 of some £50,000 to £60,000. 



St. Kitt's produced an average crop during the past 

 season. Much benefit has resulted to this island from the 

 introduction of new varieties of .sugar-cane, such as IS. 147 

 and B. 208, whereby larger crops and freedom from disease 

 have lesulted. 



The crop of Antigua was again small on account of the 

 continuance of drought. The central sugar factory at 

 Gunthorpe's continued its operations successfully, making 

 2,348 tons of sugar. Some additions to plant and a small 

 extension of railway were made and jiaid for out of the year's 

 working expense.s, thus in some measure reducing apparent 

 profits. Towards the end of the year a considerable extension 

 of railway was made and additional plant added to the 

 factory, including a Krajewski crusher to be used in the crop 

 of 1907. This is now in operation and doing excellent 

 work. The operations of tlie factory were extended by three 

 additional estates entering into contracts to supply canes 

 from 1907 onwards. 



liendal's factory was improved by the addition of 

 Babcock and Wilcox water tube boilers. The operations are 

 greatly facilitated by the existence of its tramway, which 



now extends over about 3 nules. The factory was very 

 successfully operated, the output for the season being 

 1,178 tons. 



Both these factories are. under contract with the Govern- 

 ment to purchase such pea.sants' canes as may be offered 

 during a term of years, Ounthorpe's to the extent of 4,500 

 tons, and Bendal's 1,500 tons a year. There were actually 

 purchased 1,811 tons at Gunthorpe's and 4,728 tons at 

 liendal's. This has given great impetus to the cultivation 

 of canes by jieasants, and very much larger ijuantities are 

 forthcoming in the crop of 1907. 



Improvements have l)een made in three muscovado 

 sugar works whereby the whole of the boiling is conducted 

 by steam instead of open fires, thus attbrding better control 

 of the process of sugar making. At the same time improve- 

 ments have been made in the furnaces, enabling them to 

 burn the megass direct from the mill without subjecting it to 

 a preliminary drying. This makes the work independent of 

 weather conditions, besides efi'ecting many other economies. 



Exports of Sugar Products From the 

 United States. 



The details given below as to tlie exp(.irts of sugar, 

 molasses, etc., from the United States to Great Britain 

 and other countries, are worthy of note by producers in 

 the West Indies. 'J'hey are taken from the Amrrieayi 

 Sugar Indiistry of November 5 : — 



The fact that the United State.s has a considerable 

 exi>ort trade in refined sugar, syrup, molasses, etc., is not 

 often mentioned in consular reports, or emphasized in commer- 

 cial statistics. 



The bulk of the exijorts of molasses go to Canada and 

 the United Kingdom. Although the Dominion has taken 

 smaller quantities each year for several years. Great Britain 

 has increased its purchases in much greater ratio, so that the 

 total exports of molasses from the United States has increased 

 from 3,819,139 gallons in 1904, to 10,205,885 gallons 

 in 1906 



Refined sugar is exported to Bermuda a,n(l to all the 

 British colonies, as well as to Hayti, Japan, Russia, Mexico, 

 and many other countries. The greatest increase in exports 

 in the past three years has been to Mexico, which has 

 increased its purchases of American sugar from 663,842 lb. 

 in 1904, to 5,178,159 lb. in 1906. Newfoundland and 

 Labrador stand second on the list, exports to those colonies 

 having increased from 1,174,760 lb. in 1904 to 4,455,881 lb. 

 in 1906. The total exports of refined sugars have mounted 

 from 15,304,560 ft. in 1904, to 21,899,290 ft. in 1906. 



The value of all the United States exports of sngar 

 products has increased from §2,970,894 in 1904, to 

 83,783,971 in 1906. 



ANTIGUA'S TRADE WITH CANADA. 



The MarLfinw Mi-rvhant of November 14 last, 

 reported aninterview which a representative of that paper 

 had with an Antigiian merchant, then on a visit to 

 Canada. Refeiring to trade between Antigua and the 

 Dominion, this gentleman stated : — 



A large part of our entire business in Antigua is done 

 with Canada, for the Dominion buys ,'uost of our sugar and 

 molasses, and sells us our fish, lumber, oats, split peas, and 

 some of our flour. The trade in the last article is increasing 

 since we began importiiig the flour of the Ogilvie Flour 

 Mills at Montreal. This flour seems to keep quite as well as that 

 produced in the United States, and makes good, strong bread. 



