Vol. XVII. No. 422 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



201 



has been recit-ved from Mr. J. Jones, Curator of the 

 Botanic Garden in that island: — 



'From recent information received, it would appear 

 that there is no likelihood of the American embargo on 

 green limes being raised. There are some hopes that 

 citrate of lime may be admitted. If this is allowed, it 

 may permit of bying on a limited scale for ff.aking this 

 product. 



'As a result of the embargo, the fruit usually shipped 

 as gi-een limes will now have to ripen on the trees and 

 to be turned into concentrated juice or citrate of lime. 

 ' . The addition to the ripe lime crop will probably amount 

 to 50,000 or 60,000 barrels of fruit, and for these approxi- 

 mately 1,000 casks of 40 gallons capacity will be neces- 

 sary in ad<lition to ordinar}- requirements. Enquiries 

 are being made by the Government with a view of obtain- 

 ing the extra packages needed. 



'His Honour tlie Administrator has addressed a 

 Circular to the leading jplanters asking them to assist by 

 buying peasants' limes, and, if possible, to do so on a 

 co-operative basis. 



'The business of buying limes by planters will 

 naturally be a speculative one, as the future market 

 position of concentrated lime juict- is uncertain. It is 

 clear that buyers can only offer a low price, therefore 

 the small growers are likely to experience a very trying 

 time. 



'News has just been received that Messrs. Rose & 

 Co., Ltd., have resumed the buying of limes and lime 

 juice. It is however not yet known whether the firm 

 will be able to buy throughout the crop season.' 



Testing New Cane Seedlings in North India. 



A note on this subject by Dr. C. A. Barber, Gov- 

 ernment Sugar-cane Expert, Madras, appears in the 

 A(jricaltural Journal of India, April 1918. 



The caue-breeding station at Coimbatore, which is 

 under Dr. Barber's direcftion, was founded with the aim 

 of obtaining better varieties of cane than those at 

 present grown in India. This aim is complicated by 

 the fact that the canes experimented with are divided 

 into two classes; thick tropical canes, and thin indi- 

 genous ones. There are already many excellent thick 

 canes in the country, but the thin ones are generally 

 of very inferior qualities. 



To obtain seedlings of promise of the thick varie- 

 ties presents no difficulty, and a large number has been 

 raised at the station, some of which it is hoped will 

 prove of value in cultivation. The raising of seedlings 

 of the thin varieties, so as to replace the indigenous 

 class with plants of greater value, is more ditticult, but 

 because of the greater area devoted to the cultivation 

 of these indigenous canes, their production has received 

 most attention. 



Seedlings raised with this object are chiefly crosses 

 between thick tropical canes ami hardy Indian ones. 

 It is noticeable that in the seedlings raised a distinct 

 advance has been made towards the problem of obtain- 

 ing varieties suited to the different conditions of Xorth 

 India sugar-cane districts. 



Dr. Barber points ouo that the work on the 

 Coimbatore cane-breeding station is necessarily very 

 different (rom that in tropical countries, where only 

 the thick varieties are paid attention to. A yet more 

 important difference is that improved seedlings are- 

 wanted for places where the climate and the soil are 

 very different from those at the station. It has there- 

 fore been decided to start a tentative distribution of 

 some of the most desirable seedlings, obtained by 

 crossing tropical canes with thin Indain varieties, on 

 certain Xorth Indian provincial farms. It is important 

 that the period of testing should extend over several 

 years, because it takes some time for a seedling to 

 accommodate itself to the vegetative mode of repro- 

 duction, as well as to acclimatize itself to the very 

 different conditions of soil, temperature, and moisture 

 it its new surroundings. Dr. Barber gives a striking 

 instance of this. A certain cane was distributed because 

 of its rich sucrose content; it refused to grow more than 

 a couple of feet in length for the first four years, but 

 was kept because of the richness of its juice; in this, 

 the fifth year, it has suddenly grown well, and the 

 juice does not seem to have suffered by the change. 



There are numerons instances, says Dr. Barber, in 

 Indian experience of the past twenty years, of such 

 gradual acclimatization. 



The seedlings thus far grown to maturity have 

 been numbered Madras 1-1,7000. A new series of 

 numbers will now be started of such canes as are, after 

 testing in the provincial farms, onsidered worth trial 

 in the field. The new series will be termed 'Coimbatore' 

 seedlings, and designated 'Co. 1, 2', etc. 



Sugar as a Meat Preservative. 



A note in the Queensland Agricultural Journaly 

 April 191s, draws attention to the employment of sugar 

 instead of salt as a preservative for meat. It is stated 

 that hams may be placed in a 'pickle', if it is possible 

 so to call it, of sugar and molasses. The fresh hams are 

 first well rubbed with powdered sugar, and are then 

 placed in the saccharine solution, and left undisturbed 

 for some weeks. When cooked the meat does not pre- 

 sent the red appearance of the brine-cured article, but 

 looks more like fresh pork. The taste however is said to 

 be like that of ham, only a little sweeter. It is stated 

 in the samejournal that experiments have been made 

 under the direction of the French Minister of Agrricul- 

 ture, which demonstrate that sugar possesses some 

 advantages over salt as an agent for preserving meat. Its 

 is pointed out that salt absorbs a portion of the nutritive 

 substances and of the flavour of the meat, and the more 

 deeply it enters the tissues so much the more readily 

 does it deprive meat of some nutritive substances ot 

 genuine importance. Powdered sugar, on the contrary, 

 forms round the meat a sort of solid crust, which 

 removes very little juice from the meat, and does not 

 alter its taste. It is .sufficient to immerse the meat in 

 water, before cooking. It is true, however, that preserv- 

 ing meat by sugar costs a little more than its preserva- 

 tion by salt. 



