Vol. VJL No. 150. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEW?. 



19 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Sugar-cane Experiments in British Guiana 



At the West Indian Agiii-ulTiiral Conference 

 lately lielil in Barbados, Professor Harrison, C.M.G., 

 Director of Science and Agriculture, British Guiana, 

 read an interesting f)aper on the resnits of sugar-cane 

 experiments which arc carried on in that colon}', 

 under the auspices of the Board of Agricidture. 

 The paper referred especially to the period from 

 April 190(>. 1.1 September 1907. 



Dealing with the manurial exjieriments Vv-itli siigar- 

 t^aue, Professm- Harrison stated it had been suggested 

 by some nou-resident planters, on the basis of experiments 

 carrio:! out at tli; Royal Agricultural Society's Farm in 

 England, that the falling off in yield on some cane fields 

 might be due to the souring action on the soil of long- 

 continued applications of sulphate ol ammonia. It appears 

 that at the farm in question in England,' the land has become 

 absolutely barren as far as the growth of economic plants is 

 concerned, in consecpience of the annual application of 

 sulphate of ammonia during the last thirty years. Dnring 

 his recent visit to England, Professor Harrison visited this 

 farm, Ijut experiments carried out in British Guiana on his 

 return failed to indicate that the continued use of sulphate of 

 annnonia for the sugar-cane cn'p during the past fourteen 

 years in one of tlie experiment fields had been attended 

 ■with similar results to tliose cxiierienced in England. 



Indeed, the substitution of nitrate of soda for sulphate 

 of ammonia, as recrnnmendcd from England, reduced the 

 yield of sugar per acre, both on limed and nnlimcd land 

 as comiiared with tlie return obtained when sulpliate was 

 applied. The matter re(piires further investigation, but as 

 the result of the preliminary experiments. Professor 

 Harrison is of opinion that these tests clearly indicate that 

 on very heavy clay soils, sueli as that of the experiment 

 field, and under tropical meteorological conditions, the 

 defiocculation, or puddling, whicli vvoukl be caused by long- 

 continued diessings of nitrate of .soda, is likely to prove more 

 injurious to the soil than the souring action of sulphate of 

 annnonia. 



Cane Farming at Trinidad. 



Mr. Edgar Tripp, Secretary of the Trinidad Agri- 

 cidtural Society, has recently sent to the Loainlamt 

 Pointer, a corrected report of the cane farmers' crops 

 of 1907. 



On the sugar jilantations .373,577 long tons of cane 

 were produced by the planters on their own account, and 

 that purchased from the cane farmers amounted to 169,709 

 tons. For this purchased cane there was paid $340,527, 

 or aliout .'52 per ton. 



The farmers engaged in producing this section of the 

 crop, which was about 30 [ler cent, of the whole, were 

 composed of 6,557 East Indians, and 5,777 \\'est Indians. 

 From these data it will be seen that the average amount 

 ;)aid for canes to this numerous lot of tenants was very 

 .small, 12,334 tenants receiving $340,000, giving le.ss than 

 if 30 to each tenant. Still, in its aggregate, this forms a very 

 important feature of the Trinidad sugar industry. 



The largest sugar producer among the eighteen sugar 

 houses reported on was tlie well-known Usine St. Jlideleine, 

 the output of which was 13,591 tons, and the Tennaut's Estate 

 came next, with a sugar production of 7,037 tons. The 

 total sugar prodcctiDU for the year was 50,564 tons. 



Sugar Crop Prospects in Cuba. 



Later reports on the present season's sugar crop- 

 of Cuba are much blighter than those issued a few 

 months ago. 



The Havana corresjiondent of the Lousiaiui I'lantev 

 <lescribes the great shortage in the crop, which was predicted 

 not long ago, as a purely imaginary one, and states that 

 reliable estimates place the crop yield at not less than 

 1,250,000 tons. This is slightly less than last year's yield, 

 which, however, was the largest known in the history of the 

 island. Later on, it is stated, it is not unlikely that prospects 

 may still furuher improve, and last season's crop be even 

 excelled. This possibility is due to the fact that the sugar-cane 

 area of the inesent year is greater by several liundred acres- 

 than that of last season. 



Another favourable symptom is the fact that many mills 

 are preparing to grind long before they expected to start,, 

 and much earlier than they did last year. 



Other estates, having plenty of cane ready for grinding,, 

 will be delayed only because they cannot get their new- 

 machinery installed in time, but the time lost will, in most 

 cases, be made U[i by the cidai-ged capacity of tlie new e.piip- 

 ment. 



AGRICULTURE IN THE STRAITS 

 SETTLEMENTS. 



The following are the most interesting of the notes- 

 relating to the agricultural industries of the Straits 

 Settlements, wdiieli appear in tlie Annual Rci'uii on the 

 colony for 1906 : — 



Considerable interest has been shown in the cultivation 

 of the oil-grasses — lemon grass and citrouella, in several parts 

 of the island, and the development of this industry has been 

 active. The cultivation of indigo and vegetables has increa.sed. 

 Ground nuts are coming into favour again, and some acres 

 are now under this plant. The fruit crops continue to be 

 poor, but the planting of fruit trees appears to be on the 

 increase. Cocoa-nut cultivation increases rapidly. 



As to Peiiang, and Pro\-ince Wellesley, the rubber trees 

 at the gardens in Penang were tapped, and a fair quantity of 

 seed was sohl to planters. Agricultural prices were, on the 

 whole, better than in 1905, while tapioca reached the highest 

 point recorded for many years. The paddy harvest was a fairly 

 good one, but the fruit crop was, as in Singapore, poor. Para 

 rubber and cocoa-nuts arc gradually superseding sugar on 

 nearly all the estates in Province Wellesley, except tliose of 

 the Penang sugar estates. 



Tapioca cultivation has largely increased in ^lalacca, and 

 planters of tapioca are now compelled by the conditions of 

 their titles to plant fruit trees, cocoa-nuts, or rubber through 

 the cro}i, in order to ensure jiermanency of cultivation 

 Land planted with tapioca alone soon gets exhausted, and 

 wlien abandoned becomes a waste covered with lalang grass. 

 Immense tracts of such land have been abandoned in tlie past, 

 liut are now being taken up rapidly hn rubber. Small cultiva- 

 tors are enabled to plant rulilier by utilizing tapioca or ganibier 

 as a catch crop to tide over the years which must elapse before 

 rubber makes an.y return, and the consequence is that small 

 rubber plantations are springing up all over the Sv^ttlement, 



