292 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 21, 1918. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL AND COMMER- 

 CIAL SOCIETY. BRITISH GUIANA. 



The Presidential Address delivered by Professor J. B. 

 HarrisoD, CMC, M.A., etc., to the British Guiana lloyal 

 Agricultural and Commercial Society, the first part on 

 February 4, 1918. and the second part on April 17, 1918, 

 on the Society's work in the period of twenty-one years be- 

 tween 1897 and 1918, is published in Timehri, Vol. V, 1918. 

 This address constitutes a review of the changes which have 

 taken place in the society, and in the industries of the colony 

 since January 1897 (the year during which Professor Harrison 

 was President of the Society, and the West Indian Royal 

 Con\mission made its enquiries and issued its report) up to 

 the present time. 



In 18S7, Professor Harrison points out, the society 

 showed more activity in practical pursuits than it has done 

 of late years. It was not then as purely a literary or book- 

 collecting society as it now is. Its agricultural and its 

 correspondence committees were alert and active. The 

 Professor regrets that this, the premier agricultural society 

 of the West Indies, and the second in the Empire, in point 

 of years of existence, has, in this respect, shown some lack of 

 vitality. 



After paying a fitting tribute to the eti'orts of his prede- 

 cessors, and of his co-workers who have passed away during 

 the interval, he proceeds to discuss the various matters in 

 which the society had interested itself, and the progress 

 which had been made during the twenty-one years under 

 review. Professor Harrison refers firstly to the efforts that 

 have been made in connexion with the promotion of agricul- 

 tural education, and the proposals which years ago were 

 brought forward, on his initiative, in regard to the establish- 

 ment of (a) a central agricultural college for the West Indies, 

 and (b) agricultural or farm schools in various districts of 

 British Guiana. The society's interest in this highly 

 important question appears to have waned during recent 

 years, but still some interest had always been taken in it by 

 certain of the members; and he often wondered whether any 

 practical steps will be taken towards the establishment of 

 such a school, but more especially of a Central West Indian 

 Agricultural College, before his official connexion with these 

 colonies terminates. 



Regarding local foodstuffs, the society, it is shown, had 

 devoted much attention in the early nineties towards the quali- 

 ty and purity of these, as also the conversion of locally grown 

 vegetable products into permanent forms in which they may 

 be stored; the latter, however, with scant success. L'nder 

 present war conditions, the position with regard to locally 

 produced foodstuffs has become very acute. As the outcome 

 of a report and recommendations of a special committee, the 

 Government was endeavouring to obtain from the United 

 States, machinery for the ecjuipment "f a factory for convert- 

 ing rice and maize into ground rice, rice flour, and corn Hour. 

 The succe.ss of this should be assured, and should lead in the 

 future to an export trade in ground rice and rice flour. 

 It is hoped that it will also be feasible to equip the factory 

 for the commercially successful production of various flours 

 from plantains, bananas, cassava, various pulses, and ground 

 provisions generally. Professor Harrison is careful to remind 

 his hearers, however, that a factory of this sort working on 

 a commercial scale is an entirely novel proposition. It is one 

 which the society hoped would prove successful, but the 

 success of which will be entirely dependent on the receiving 

 of ample supplies of the various raw materials from planters 

 and farmers. I'nless the factory can work continuously, and 

 at its full power, its failure is a foregone conclusion. 



An address by Professor Harrison reviewing the work of 

 this society covering a period of twenty-one years, must 

 necessarily include more than passing reference to the question 

 of soils — a subject to which the major portion of his life- 

 work has been assiduously devoted. This, the Professor has 

 amply dealt with, and it will receive fuller notice in a later 

 issue of this Journal So also with reference to the progress 

 of agricultural industries, particularly the sugar industry. 

 The portion of the address dealing with the raising and 

 propagation of seedling canes forms the subject of the editorial 

 in this issue, while other matters will receive attention later. 



In regard to the rice industry, steady progress has been 

 made, as is evidenced by the data supplied in the address 

 under review. The area under rice cultivation in 1896-7, it 

 is shown, was about 6,500 British acres, yielding paddy eijual 

 to about 4,000 tons of cleaned rice, in value about £48,000 

 or .•f23O,O0O: whilst in 1917 not less than 63,.")80 acres were 

 reaped, yielding paddy equal to about 45,000 tons of com- 

 mercial rice, having a value in normal times of at least 

 £540,000 or .$2,000,000. 



Coming next to the coconut industry, it is shown that 

 there were, in round figures, 9,700 acres planted in the 

 colony prior to 1911. If these palms had been planted at 

 proper distances, and properly tended, the Professor state.=, 

 there shouldnow be about 390,000 trees in full-bearing, produc- 

 ing at least 15,000,000 coco-nuts a year. In addition, at least 

 2,300 acres should be commencing to bear, and their yields 

 should increase the total to about 21,000,000 nuts per annum. 

 The annual exports of coco-nuts is about 2,000,000 nuts. 

 The copra e.^ported annually represents about 325,000 nuts, 

 and the coconut oil about 1,075,00(1, leaving apparently 

 about 17,600,000 liuts available for local consumption. If, 

 he postulates, this is the actual position, then the community 

 can look with equanimity towards the threatened .scarcity of 

 imported fatty food, for they will have the e(]uivalent in 

 food value of 6,750,000 Bt). of butter or oleomargarine, or of 

 5,000,000 B). of ghee and oil. But Professor Har, ison is 

 doubtful whether the colony does produce 21,000,000 

 coco-nuts annually. On the contrary, he expresse;* himself as 

 being satisfied that, owing to lack of care in planting, uneven 

 spacing, neglect of drainage and of tillage, the ravages of fun- 

 goid and insect pests, and especially lack of continuity in 

 clean-weeding, the areas which should now be bearing are not 

 produ('ing nuts in nlimbers even approximating to those they 

 should do. The exports of coco-nut products, however, have 

 increased from oOO in 1896 to, in round figures, 1,9 1 1,000 

 nuts, 169,000 Bb. of copra, and 26,674 gallons of oil in 1917, 

 and these alone served to measure the reserve stock of fatty 

 foods on which the colony might be compelled to rely. 



In its agricultural activities the society has always 

 been interested in coffee growing, and Profe.ssor Harrison 

 recalls the fact that in the eighteenth century, and in 

 the earlier part of the last century, Guiana, and especi- 

 ally Berbice, was celebrated for the high quality of the 

 coffee produced; and that at the time of the cessation 

 of slavery, circumstances beyond the control of the plan- 

 ters necessitated the gradual abandonment of its cultiva- 

 tion. There has been, however, a marked extension in 

 coffee planting during the period under review, which has 

 -been carried out mainly, if not entirely, with the Liberian 

 variety. Whilst progress with regard to coffee planting 

 during the past ten years appears to be marked. Professor 

 Hairison represents the industry in Mritish Guiana to be 

 practically in a deplorable state of sUigniilion, in comparison 

 with that of their neighbours in Surinam. There, not only 

 had the area planted with Liberian coffee been greatly 

 augmented, hut cotfee was being grown on excellent cultural 

 lines, .-^uch as were foUoWe I by very few indeed of the planters 



