Vol. XII. No. 2S1. 



THE AGKICULTLTltAL NKWS. 



35 



SUGAR-CANE EXPERIMENTS IN 



ANTIGUA, 1911-12. 



At a nifeting of the Antigua Agricultural and Com- 

 mercial Society held on December 13, 1912, an address of 

 which the following i.s an abstract was delivered by Mr. II. A. 

 Temiiany. P. Sc , .'Superintendent r)f Agriculture, on the 

 results cf the experiments with i-eediin^ canes conducted by 

 the Depaitinent of Agricnltu.-e in Antigua during the .season 

 1011-12. The abstract has been supplied by Mr. Tempany. 



The speaker, in npening, said that experiments had now 

 been repeated thirteen times under the same conditions of 

 cultivation. Experimental canes, forty-two varieties as plant 

 canes and forty five as ratoon.=, had been grown at nine stations; 

 they were planted in rows across the fields, each row being 

 a separate variety, and had received the identical treatment 

 afi'orded to the canes grown for the crop, so that the experi- 

 mental results were directly com[)arable with crop results. 

 During 1911 12 the rainfall had been distinctly unfavourable, 

 and low yields were given both by plint and ratoon canes. 

 Besides this, root disease hid again been prevalent and was 

 responsible for further dtcrea.se in yiehU 



Tlie main collection of canes was grown at Cassada 

 Garden, where also were grown twenty s^-v^n Ant'gua seed- 

 lings and eleven newly-introduced Barbiulos and Demerara 

 ^hiih were grown separately. 



In 1911-12 three Barbados ami two Amigua seedlings 

 had been introduced into the g'neral experimental series, 

 vhilst a number of Demerara seedlings had been abandoned, 

 v'hich had been shown by repeated tiials to be unsuited to 

 conditions obtaining in Antigua. 



In the table below are given the mean results of the 

 best yields returned by plant canes, in 1910-11, and during 

 the p St five years, and it will be seen that low yieUls were 

 again recorded, as a result of unfavourable conditions. 



Means for 191 112. 



.Means for past 5 years. 



T'he following table shows the resulti of the first twenty 

 ratoon canes in 1911 12 togethir with the averages over the 

 past five years 



It was seen that B.758 and B.I47 occupied the first 

 and second places in the year's results; these, however, made 

 the means for three stations only, the canes having died out 

 elsewhere during the drought. Leaving the.se out, B.459G 

 occupied the third place with a return of 3,400 It), of 

 sucro.-e to the acre .Sta'y Seedling, B. 376 and D.95 also 

 occupied satisfactory po.sitions on the list 



.Means for 191 1- 1 2. 



Name of Sucrose, lb. 



\1 eans for past 5 years. 

 Name of Sucrose, lt>. 



Mr. Tempan)', at the close of his address, thanked the 

 owners, attorneys and managers on whose estates the trials 

 had been conducted, for the afsistance they had attorded to 

 the Department in carrying out successfully the sugai-cane 

 experiments. 



SUGAR PRODUCTION IN PERU. 



Statistics obtained by sending blanks to be filled, to 

 all the sugar estates in Peru, have recently been published, 

 giving the production of sugar, alcohol and rum, the extent 

 of the cultivation of cane, the number of workmen, and the 

 wages in the sugar industry in 1911. 



The data "thus collected show that 1,285,170 metric 

 tons of cane were milled in Peru during 191 1, from which 

 were made 22,525 tons of white sugar, 105,546 tons of granu- 

 lated sugar. 21,936 tons of brown sugar, 1,026 tons of 

 molasses, 782,713 gallons of alcohol, and 49ii 357 gallons of 

 rum. The estimated production of those estates which did 

 not furni.sh returns, and hence are not included in the fore- 

 going figures, was: sugar, 27,500 metric tons; alcohol and 

 rum. 848,000 gallons. The total production was therefofe 

 178,533 metric tons of sugar and 2,127,070 gallons of alcohol 

 and rum. 



The area under sugar cultivation was 19,965 acres, and 

 the average production per acre 168 tons; 16,977 hands were 

 employed, each earning, on an average, 58c. per day. 



In 1911 the exports of white, granulated, and brown 

 i*HCnr froni Peru aggregated 123,7bii metric tons having a total 

 value of .i:7. 08 1,061 



According to figures furnished by the National Ta.x. 

 Collecting Co , 32,485 metric tons of sugar were lonsumed 

 in Peru in 1911. (From a United States Consular Keport, 

 in the Modern Swjar Planter, December 28, 1912.) 



