Vol. XIV. No. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



323 



Ii is now found i Brazilian ' longre - has 



voti I to valorize coffee, md to issue in Brazilian 



icy an amount equal to 37 of dollai 



to the State ol Sao Paulo foi Advances to planters, one of 

 i I editions of the law , , o ] 



shall nut exceed 6 millions t« altogethei 



advances are intended to proti , : gainst the 



1* ■ — ■ of < iermanj a> a consume) 



I i ■• former venture of this kind havii 



in the i ii'i. i hen seems to have ra sition 



in the Braziliai i -- to thi move: bu1 the 



opposition has weakened and the agreemeni to advance to 



I ationed will go mi" 



In making the loans, the 81 ite of Sao Paulo will 



receipts for the coffee and thus make itself 



practically safe i hat it may make to the 



coffee planters. 



It is thus seen what the United States is now 

 endeavouring I i do to protect thegi ul cotton interest of that 

 country. It is also seen what the republic of Brazil is 

 endeavouring to do to protect its coffee industry, which is 

 the most conspicuous export industry of that country. 



Contrasting the action of these two great nations in 

 supporting these two great industries with what the United 

 States determines to do with the sugar industry as indicated 

 above, the Louisiana Planter gives somewhat interesting 

 data in regard to this latter industry. The sugar industry of 

 Louisiana reaches normally about 300,000 long tons of sugar. 

 The beel sugai industry of the United States reaches 

 normally about 500,000 long tons of sugar. The domestic 

 sugar industry of the United States, within the limits of the 

 Stati - reaches thus some 800,000 tons. The island of Porto 

 Rico produces over 300,000 tons oi sugar and the Hawaiian 

 [stands over 500,000 tons. The sugars of Porto Rico and 

 Eawaii, as territories of the United States, enter this 

 country free. Within the limits of the United States, 

 Louisiana in cam ugar ami the North-western States 

 in beel sugar produce 800,000, thus giving 1,600,000 

 tons of free sugar produced at home, so to speak. 

 About 300,000 tons are produced in the Philippines, and 

 under the law 350,000 tons of Philippine sugar may be 

 imported into the United States free of duty. It is now 

 proposed, as mentioned already, that 5n the first day of -May 

 L916, the duties on sugars in the United States imported 

 from other countries shall be entirely removed. The 

 assumption is made thai the removal of the duties will not 

 extinguish the sugar industry of Eawaii or of Porto Rico, as 

 the industry may survive in those tropical countries; but 

 within the United States proper the 800,000 tons thai are 

 now produced, valued at nearly 100 millions of dollars, 

 represent today the last production of sugar of any 

 importance within the limits of the United States, the 

 policj of the present administration thus leading to 

 the direct destruction of this great industry The 

 situation, therefore, may be summarized thusly: that 

 while the United States itself is 1 'V, endeavouring to 'care 



for' the cotton crop by United States aid, and while the 



Brazilian government, with ample experience in its 



Spei i '1 Way of aiding its COfFee industry, has now agreed 



to repeat the efforts which wen 50 successful some 

 years ago in holding up the coffee market, we find the sugar 

 producers of the United States placed in peril, and with 

 a practical certainty of the extinction of their industry, 

 in order to conform to apolitical policy that is .seemingly 



at variance with the policy of any nation that desires to 



■ t itself against destructive competition with any of its 

 neighbours. Finally, the question is asked why sugat 

 be singled out for destruction, and cotton aided when it is 



i pet il: and ti hat < when 



in Decei rill consider the whole n 



and i mcludi to ir i ! 



well as to ' .. i this pn 



luction in the British 



Indies is p 



HOW TO AVOID ERRORS IN FIELD 



TRIALS WITH SUGAR-CANE. 



When th 1 i tslacds periments wen 



l in L889 there was considerable discussion as to 



ll method of ] and implin in order to avoid 



as far as possible the errors incidental to such work. It « is 

 d that for variety trials the single row method promised 



man] advantages, and accordingly the canes were plan 

 rows running across the held, and each row was regarded as 

 a separate plot. In the case of iiianurial experiments, such 



aii arrangement was see,, to be impracl icablc, sim e I he effects 

 of the fertilizers applied to one row would be felt by those 

 on either side. According!] in these the rectangular plot was 

 employed. 



Concerning the number and size oi the plots that should 

 be employed in conducting manuri&l experiments, we have 

 to consider two principal factors: (a) soil irregularities, and 

 isonal variations. In the West Indies. Professor liar 

 rison, Director of Science and Agriculture. British Guiana, 

 has given this subject considerable attention. Small plots 

 I i'i, tn i'n acre) are considered most, suitable, but these must 

 be duplicated several times, in order that the mean results 

 may be reliable. In a general way it may be stated that the 

 means of nine plots of small areas in any one year are reliable 

 for the study of the effects of manures. From this it should 

 not be inferred that single plot experiments are valueless. In 

 cases where the effect of the manure is pronounced, as in the 

 case of nitrate of soda on ratoon canes, single plots are quite 

 sufficient to indicate approximately the increase obtained. 



The question of sampling is perhaps the most difficult 

 of all the matters concerning sugar cane experiments. It has 

 received very careful attention in India, and the following 

 conclusions arrived at bj Mr. II. I'., \nnett. B.Sc., in Bulletin 

 No. 49 of the Agricultural Research Institute, I'usa. will 

 afford a fitting ending to this article. The sugar-canes to 

 which the following conclusions have reference were grown in 

 duplicate plots 1 1 - acre m al 'ea: — 



'The results of the experiments confirm those of 

 Mr. Leather in that in - impling a held of sugar cane the follow 

 ing method gives very accurate results. The sample should 

 consist of about 200 canes taken in groups of three from about 

 seventy places throughout the area. These seventy places 

 should be accurately measured out and the three canes nearest 

 to the measured points be taken, provided such canes arc 

 canes which would normally be taken by the cultivator foi 

 juice extraction. 



'No increase in accuracy seems to be obtained by tai. . 

 half plot samples. 



'In these experimi nts the "100 canes" samples seem to 

 have given as good results as any other method of sampling, 

 but samples consisting of only litu cine- are much less- 

 reliable. 



'Data have been obtained bearing on the experimental 



error which must be allowed for in field experiments with 



cane in a series of plots. Tin- results naturally only 



strictly apply to experiment- on the laterite soil of which 



the Dacca Farm soil is a type. This soil shows much more 

 than the usual lack of uniformity. 1 



