Vol. XIV. So. 356. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



107 



ami nut produced at present being nearly sufficient t" 

 meel the American and British demands. 



The production of the citrate of lime during 1914 was 

 aboul 6,707 tons, this being somewhat larger than was at 

 first anticipated, because, as has been previou>ly stated, the 

 exp rt of the summer lemons was considerably restricted by 

 the war, ami the unexported fruit was converted in 

 products. 



DURATION OF LIFE OF THE SISAL 



HEMP PLANT. 



A useful article on the cultivation of sisal hemp 

 has been publish^! in t In- llnll,ti„ ../' lh- Imperial 

 Institute (Vol. XIII, No. 3). One of the mosl 

 interest ing features of i his art icle arc the observal ions 

 on the duration of the life of the plant, which we 

 reproduce below. Ii will be remembered by our 

 readers thai this is largely bound up in the question of 

 poling, and in the course of referring to this point 

 in the following note, it- is difficult to understand why 

 i ttention is given to the relationship between lime 

 in the soil am! poling established 1>\ Mr. Cousins in 

 Jamaica 



As has been already stated, the duration of life is 

 determined by the production of the pole <>r inflorescence 

 In Mexico the plants arc said to live for fifteen, or sometimes 

 even twenty-five years before poling, whilst in more tropical 

 countries thiy live a ana li shorter period, the average 



b of life in East Africa being only about six years. In 

 general, the duration of the plant appears to be largely 

 dependent on condition of soil and climate. It has been 

 asserted that the life ma} mged by cutting out the 



is soon as it appears above the leaves, the plant being thus 



red available for fibre for nearly a year longer than it 

 would be otherwise; but experiments which have been con- 

 ducted in German East Afri :a do not support this view. The 

 early poling of sisal plants in East Africa has been much 



ssed, and has been regarded by some planters as 

 a great disadvantage. It appears, however, that the 

 comparatively short life is due to the fact that there are two 

 growing seasons in that country, and growth is checked twice 



i. whereas in less tropical countries there is only one 

 growing season per annum Thus it is evident that the 

 plant in East Africa lives through approximately the same 

 number of growing seasons as it loes in other countries, but 

 only about half as many years. Moreover, the number of 

 haves produced per plant (on the average about 200) is 

 roughly the same in each case, and hence the comparatively 

 brief duration of life is rather an advantage than otherwise, 



e total crop of the plant is produced in a relatively 

 shorter time. 



Since the plants in a sisal plantation do not all pole at 



ime time, the work can be carried on continuously by 

 the intercalary method sometimes adopted in German East 

 Africa. As the plant lives for only about six years, cutting 



iy be carried on for two or three years bef it dies. 



New plants are therefon ntinually inserted between the 



lies, so that when one plan' dies another is ready for 



cutting, anil the work of the plantation can proceed without 



interruption. Some planters, however, do not approve of this 



method, but prefer to let all the plants in a plantation pole 

 and die, and then allow the land to lie fallow for a year or 

 more before replanting. 



BARBADOS. REPORT ON THE SUGAR-CANE 

 EXPERIMENTS FOR THE SEASON 1913-15. ** 



Professor d'Albuquerque and Mr. J. II. Bovell have 

 recently published their results on experimental work with 

 sugarcane in Barbados for the period 1913 15. As in former 

 years, the report is divided into three sections. 



In regard to Part 2, it is stated that the results i btained 

 from the general series of manurial trials, which ated 



each year, were seriousl) interfered with during tin- 31 

 under review by a new factor, namely, the grub of the root 



borer. As this subjeel has been dealt with under In 

 Notes in the last issue oj the Agricultural News, it is unne- 

 cessary here to do more than repeat, that the damage was of 

 such an extent as to render it impossible to draw anj definite 

 conclusions as to the respective influence of tin- different 

 fertili/n s. 



In hi additional series, planned to show the relative \ 

 oi nitrate ot soda^' sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of ammonia, 

 cal nun cyanamide, and nitrate of lime, the disturbing factor 

 referred to above was apparently absent, and the conclusions 



are drawn that, under the conditions of this particular 



season, nitrate of lime and nitrolim give the best results. 

 These trials, it should be mentioned, were conducted in 

 duplicate, and the above inference is based upon the means. 

 An examination of the figures, however, shows us that one 

 of the nitrate of .soda plots gave 50 per cent, more sucrose 

 than the other, and the highest yield but one of the whole 

 series. The ' probable error' must therefore be high, and the 

 conclusions correspondingly doubtful. 



Turning to Part •'! of the report, which deals with 

 the work of raising new varieties, we learn that in 1913 

 a total of 5,865 seedlings were obtained, Of these tiiere 

 were 1,073 selfed seedlings, anil MSI natural hybrids. Of the 

 5,865, a first selection of 2,102 were planted at Waterford 

 estate, and during the reaping season of 1915, oil were cut, 

 and analysed, and of these 101 were considered worthy of 

 attention. This, it will be realized, is work of very high 

 value and importance, and work which is of great benefit to 

 other cane-growing colonics as well as Barbados itself. 



Tables are given in tic- Report to show In detail the 

 composition and yields of the more important varieties. It. is 

 not the custom to recommend seedlings for trial until the 

 average results of live years have been obtained, but at the 

 present time there are three varieties which planters may try 

 tentatively on their .states; these arc Ba. 6032, lia 7'.»_'l, 

 and I'i.II. 10(12). The first menti ■<{ \aricty give this 



season, as theaverageof fifteen plots on nine estates. I..'i "•! Hi. 

 of saccharose per acre more than B.6450, and 3,061 lb. of 

 sucrose more than White Transparent. Ba 7924 cave 

 2,602 lli. more than B.6450, and 3,202 ft), mure than White 

 Transparent, while I', 1 1 . L0 (12 J has given 3,015 ft) and 



4,120 ft)., respectively, more than the two standards men- 

 tioned. 



These would appeal to be varieties of great promise, and 

 the supremacj ot B.6450, if for no other reason, seems 

 threatened in the light of these new discoveries. 



