Vol. XVII. No. 410. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Lastly, if the sugar industry in these small islands 

 is to remain on a firm basis, there must be greater 

 co-operation among all concerned. The planter and the 

 labourer must co-operate in getting as much out of 

 the ground as possible, and in fair sharing of profits; 

 the manufacturer must co-operate with the planter by 

 getting all that is possible out of the cane, and in 

 equitable sharing of the profit accruing therefrom. The 

 day will soon be past when it will be any longer 

 allowed for any man, oi body of men, selfishly to amass 

 great wealth at the expense of others. But the day is 

 not past for those interested in the .'^ugar-cane industry 

 in the West Indies to make a decent living, with 

 moderate profits, by putting into their business, 

 (energy, science, and fairness. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



SUGAR-CANE EXPE3RIMENTS IN 

 TRINIDAD, 1915-16. 



In the Bnllttin of the Department of Agriculture, 

 Trinidad and ToLago, Vol. XVI, Part 5, 1917, which ha.s 

 recently been received at the Head Office "f this Department, 

 there is a report on sugarcane experiments, 1915-17, by 

 Mr .Joseph de Verteuil, F.C'.S., Superintendent of Field 

 Experiments. A summary of this will be of interest to cane 

 planters in other islands. 



The e.xperiments were conducted at the Government 

 estate, St. Augustine, and the canes experimented with 

 consisted of plant canes, and first and second ratoons. The 

 plant canes received pen manure at the rate of about 15 tons 

 per acre. No manures were applied to the ratoon.«, and all 

 the canes received ordinary estate cultivation. 



The weather conditions during the season are reported 

 as having been favourable, and a high tonnage of cane 

 per acre was obtained. The quality of the juice was also 

 above the average. 



Apparently the standard cane is still the Bourbon. 

 ' It would be very interesting to know if the name is 

 authentic, in the sense that the cane so called in Trinidad 

 is the .sanie as the old Bourbon of the smaller islands. 

 This standard cane gave a calculated yield in plant 

 canes of 37"84 tons per acre, and 3'25 tons of sucro.se in 

 juice. Of the thirty-three other varieties experimented with, 

 twenty-five have done better than the Bourbon, some of 

 them giving very high returns. The highest results were 

 obtained from B.156, with a calcuUted yield of 52"27 tons 

 of canes, and 50(5 tons of sucrose in juice per acre. The 

 next ten varieties on the list also show remarkably good 

 returns, none being below 40 tons of canes or 4 tons of 

 sucrose per acre. 



Tbe first tests were made in March 1917, when the cines 

 were from seventeen to eiahteen months old Mr. de Verteuil 

 considers that the quality of the juice in these tests was com- 

 paratively poor, as the cants had not reached maturity. This 

 was borne out by the fact that the quality of the juice 

 was much improved in a second test made in April, thus 

 leading him to consider that under normal conditions plant 

 canes do not appear to be fully ripe at St. Augustine before 

 April. 



With regard to first ratoons, the first tests were made 

 with ratoons reaped only eleven months after the harvesting of 



the plant canes of the same plois The returns 'rom 'he^e were 

 also excellent in most cases. Here, however, the IJiiubon 

 came out last on the list, with a calculated yield of 10 7J 

 tons of cane, and 107 tons (jf sucrose in juice per acre. 

 B.156 took the sixteenth place with 20 40 tons of cane audi 

 2'12 tons (if sucrdse in juice per acre. The first plac- was 

 held by D.504, with 2808 tons of cane, and .318 m.s of 

 sucrose per acre. Of the leading twenty none lell below 

 a calculated yield of 1 8 tons of cane or 2 toii.s of <ii'Tose per 

 acre. A second test made with ratoons vrhca they hid been 

 twelve months growing, showed that hardly ai.y of the varie- 

 ties reaped at eleven months were really mature 



The four varieties of Hawaiian canes under experiment were 

 reaped as second ratoons this season, with the rather curious 

 result that, with one exception, they gave better yields per 

 acre in sucrose content as second ratoons of thirteen months 

 growth, than they had given as plant cines seventeen monihs 

 old. Some newer varieties from Barbados, and -some from 

 Louisiana and Mauritius are also under trial at St. Aug'isiine. 



SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS IN THE SUGAR 

 INDUSTRY. 



The report of the standing committee of the Louisiana 

 Sugar Planters' Association, on thi^; subject, made to the 

 Association on October 11, 1917, is given in full in the 

 Louisiana Planter of October 20. 



We reproduce below some paragraphs of this report, 

 which show that the Louisiana cane-sugar manufacturers are 

 turning their attention seriously to the utilization of the 

 by-products of the sugar-cane industry, which are referred 

 to in the editorial of the present number of this Journal: — - 



'The high price of alcohol has made the use of mo'a^scs 

 for fermentation purposes quite profitable. This in turn, 

 has reacted upon the price of molasses to such an extent as 

 to interfere seriously with its use in preparing cattle feeds. 

 The high price of potash salts has also resulted in s veral 

 experimental plants for its recovery from vinesse or distil- 

 lery slop. From a commercial standpoint potash recovery 

 from cane molasses has probably not passed the experimen- 

 tal state. On the other hand, the alcohol plants hive been 

 continually enlarged. The growing importance of industrial 

 alcohol serves again to emphasize the enormous amount of 

 red tape attached to its manufacture. When tax-free 

 alcohol for industrial purposes was first proposed, the idea 

 was that there should be a number of small plants large 

 enough to supply the demands of a small community or 

 perhaps a single corporation. Inspectors and red tape have 

 made this impossible, but the fermentation of various 

 by-products of the cine industry is too important to permit 

 the present condition of affairs to go on unchallenged. It 

 has recently been suggested that molasses be not fermented 

 into alcohol, but into acetic acid, to be use 1 in the manu- 

 facture of calcium acetate which in turn would yield acetone. 

 This proposition is practical, as there is no government 

 control of the process. If the commercial problems could 

 be satisfactorily solved it would be particularly applicable 

 to .sour juices and the like. The idea would seem to be 

 worth invesiigation. 



'The use of bagasse and molasses in connexion with the 

 making of mixed feeds tor cattle is of considerable economic 

 importance. A company is now uudcr:.>king to |)lace this 

 prociss on a commercial basics. Several new proposition.^ 

 for the making of paper from bagas-e have been organized in 

 the past year, and l\}cn- will operate either with baga-se. mi- 

 with bagasse and wood pulp mixed. They are expected o 

 .-tirt active opera'ion <luring the coming season.' 



