Vol. XVli. No. 4-." 



THE AGKICULTUHAL XEWS, 



!{5 



of which may be of interest t'l West ladian sigar manufac- 

 turers for the sake of comparison. 



The sucrose contained in the canes operated on by the 

 Mauritius factories, calculated on the weight of canes for the 

 whole crop, ranged from r2-35 to 1403 percent., while the 

 fibre content varied from 10'49 to 15'30. per cent. The suc- 

 rose left in the megass was from 3-31 to 5 08 per cent. The 

 actual yield of sugar varied from 73'12 to 83.6 percent, of 

 the sugar content of the cane.=. and from bO'S to 90-6 per 

 cent of the sugar content in the juice, these being the 

 maxima and the minima of the average.*! of the several 

 factories. 



Comparing these figures with the results of last year's 

 working of Gunthorpe's Factorj-, Antigua, and the Basseterre 

 Factory, St. Kitts, given in the Agn'cit/tiira/ Neivs, Novem- 

 ber 17. 1917, it appears that the sucrose in the cane is much 

 the .same, whereas the fibre content is lower on an average 

 in Mauritius than in those two islands. 



The percentage of sugar left in the mega^.s was much 

 less in Antigua and St. Kitts than the average recorded in 

 Mauritius, and the percentage of sugar recovered both from 

 cane and from juice is much better in the West Indian 

 islands than in the great sugar island of the Indian Ocean. 



THE BRITISH GUIANA GOVERNMENT 

 LIME FACTORY. 



The report on the Government Lime Factory, worked 

 in conjunction with the Government Industrial School at 

 Onderneeming, British Guiana, for the period January 1, 

 1917 to March 31, 1918, shows that, on the whole, the 

 factory has had a successful year, for although the prices 

 obtained both for concentrated juice and distilled oil are 

 lower than those of 1916, the working expenses have been 

 reduced, and more limes have been dealt with. 



A total of 3,504 bags of limes has been purchased at 

 the factory, about half of which were obtained from Onder- 

 neeming iarm, and the other half from farmers and villagers. 

 The juice extracted was •_'7,652 gallons, and another 447 

 gallons of raw juice was purchased. These 28,098 gallons 

 of juice yielded 54 hogsheads of concentrate, equal to 2,975 

 gallons, testing, on an average, 116 oz of citric acid to the 

 gallon. The oil obtained by distillation from the total 

 quantity of juice was 1,100 B)., equal to slightly under 4 tti. 

 per 100 gallons, as compared with 3 A fc. during the pre- 

 vious season. It was ob.served that juice distilled when 

 entirely fresh yielded a greater return in oil than that stored 

 for several weeks. The yield from fresh juice on several 

 occasions exceeded 4i ft), per 100 gallons, while that from 

 .stale juice sometimes fell below 2 ft. per 100 gallons. 



In spite of the fact that the price of concentrated juice 

 had fallen from £30 per pipe in 1916 to £28 in the present 

 season, and the price of distilled oil had also fallen from 

 9.\'. per ft). ti> 6,v 3;/ , the net profit on the factory's working 

 was $875 75, approximately 16 per cent, on the capital 

 outlay. The value of the factory is by no means repre- 

 sented by this sum only. It is also f>f value on account of 

 utilizing the boys' labour on the Government Industrial 

 School, the purchase of limes giown on the farm, and of 

 firewood from the same source. The factory also provides 

 a ready market for limes grown by farmers and villagers in 

 the neighbourhood. 



From the number of iime seedlings so'd from the 

 institution during the pa.--t three years it would appear that 

 a, considerable development of the lime industry is taking 

 place. In 1915 there were 3,170 lime seedlings sold: in 



1916 the total ro.se to 9,800; while in 1917 the large number 

 of 17.350 was reached. 



The u.sefulne8S of the factory has also been extended in 

 other directions. A coffee pulper and coffee huUer have been 

 moved into the factory, and connected to the drivini? shaft of 

 the mill. A grain mill has also been erected in the facory, 

 and is doing useful work. A rice huUer and polisher has 

 also been installed, and had been working for five weeks, 

 during which time it had milled rice for ninety-seven persons; 

 it is much appreciated by the small rice growers in the 

 neighbouring districts, and promises to be a remunerative 

 investment. 



NATIVE FOOD CROPS CAMPAIGN IN 

 GRENADA IN 1918. 



A copy of the report of the Agricultural Instructor, 

 Mr. W. M. MalinsSmiih, on the native food crops campaign 

 in Grenada for the current year, has been forwarded for the 

 information of the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture. 

 From this the following particulars are abstracted. 



The distribution of plants and seeds to fifteen distri- 

 buting centres, and the clerical work of the campaign were 

 carried out by the Stall' of the Agricultural Department. 

 The Government, the Board of Agriculture, and the Agricult- 

 ural and Commercial .Society approved of an expenditure of 

 £356 on the carrying out of the campaign, Mr. Malins Smith 

 being chosen as the Executive Officer. Committees were 

 appointed in each parish for arranging and carrying out 

 operations Work performed to the end of March 

 included the issuing of circulars and letters inviting 

 the co-operation of the District Boards, the Commissioner 

 of Carriacou, planters, clergymen, and head teachers of 

 schools; the importation from St. Vincent and the storage 

 of 7 tons of yams and 1 1 bundles of manioc (cassava) sticks; 

 arrangements for the supply of tannia, eddoes, and dasheen 

 plants; the planting of peas, beans, and sweet potatoes at 

 certain experiment plots, and so on. In the distribution of 

 plants and seeds to peasant gardeners, a ticket system was 

 adopted. Special addresses were delivered by the clergy in 

 their churches on the purposes of the campaign, and notices 

 given by them of the dates and places of distribution. 



A series of seven short papers was published in the 

 (Srenada M'fsf Indian, and, with the approval of the Society, 

 these were subsequently printed in pamphlet form for free 

 distribution, 500 copies having been issued. 



Plants purchased for distribution included: yams, 15,680 

 ft).;tannias, 3,440 ft.; eddoes, 5,600 ft).; Indian corn, 70 barrel* 

 in cob; dasheen, 5,000 plants; manioc (ca.ssava), 1 1 bundles of 

 sticks (about 500 ft.). The total quantity of plants and 

 seeds distributed throughout Grenada and Carriacou was as 

 follows: yams, 16,480; It), eddoes and tannias, 9,840 ft) : Indian 

 corn (shelled), 5,407 ft.; pigeon peas, 344 ft.; dasheen, 5,000 

 plants; manioc, I5 tons of sticks; sweet potato cuttings, 4 tons. 

 Of the above 5,707 ft. of yams, 1,565 ft. of eddoes, and 

 900 ft. of corn were sold to planters; the remainder was dis- 

 tributed to 2,083 pea.sant gardeners. 



Attached to the report are copies of the plan of cam- 

 campaign, of two leaflets on food production, and of a 

 pamphlet on seasonal notes. 



The efforts made in this campaign would appear iif 

 have been fully justified by the resu'ts already attained, wliich 

 have been largely contributed to by the very commondab'e 

 degree of thoroughness with which the executive duties of 

 the Agricultural Instructor seem to have been discharged. 



