Vol. VIII. Xo. IS'J 



THE AGi;lCULTURAI. NEWS. 



22^ 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Se?:lling Sugar-canes in Louisiana 



An aiiicle by Mr. W. R. Docison. Dean of the 

 College of Agriculture and Direntor of the Experiment 

 Stn'.ion of the Louisiana State University, i.s piiblislied 

 uiider the above title in the rejiort of tho American 

 Breeders' Association, from whicli i.he following facts 

 are taken : — 



The sugar-cane season in Louisiana only lasts for about 

 nine montlis in the year, and consequently, the main ohject of 

 the planters is to obtain a cane ivhich vnll grow rapidly and 

 mature earlj-, while possessing at the same time a high sugar- 

 content, and giving a good yield of cane per acre. Attempts 

 were first made to improve the sugar-content of the canes i:iy 

 selecting for jjlanting only canes which showed a high per- 

 centage of sugar when a portion of each of them was analysed. 

 These experiments, however, gave no results. 



When, however, seedling canes had been obtained in the 

 AVest Indies, some of the new var,ieties were imported, 

 and found to give much more satisfactory results than the 

 canes usually grown, I). 9-5 and D. 74 being found particu- 

 larly well adapted to the subtropical conditions in Louisiana. 

 The climatic conditions are such that it is impossible to 

 obtain arrows from the canes in the field in Louisiana, a:.d 

 all attempts to grow canes for this pm-pose under glass were 

 conqiletely without success. 



Attempts were next made to germinate impjrted seeds 

 on the spot, so that they might be acclimatized from the 

 beginning. These trials were unsuccessful until 1907, when 

 Mr. A. E. AVeller succeeded in producing canes from seed, as 

 a result of very careful methocls of planting and growing. 

 These seedlings were obtained fr^m seed coming from almost 

 all parts of the world. The seedling canes themselves are small 

 and of very little value, but the results appear when these 

 canes are planted, the second generation canes being well- 

 grown and of good ';ugar-content. They cannot, however, be 

 tested on a large scale until the third year, so that no field 

 results are yjt forthcoming, thougii several of the canes 

 produced from the seedlings gave great promise when analysed 

 individually. 



Last year Mr. Weller obtained numerous seedlings, 

 chiefly from seed produced in Trinidad, Barbados, Hawaii, 

 and Demerara. These experiments give very fair promise 

 that the stock of canes in Louisiana can be considerably 

 improved. 



New Companies in Jamaica. 



The information contained in the tol'iowing article 

 has been taken from a newspaper account which 

 appeared in a recent issue of the Barhados Advocate : — • 



Two new schemes for the agricultural development of 

 Jamaica have been recently brought forward, each of which 

 seems at present to have every pro.spect of success. The 

 first deals with .sugar piroduction only. It originally arose 

 out of the renewed activity among those interested in sugar 

 in Jamaica, which resulted from the signing of the Brussels 

 Convention. The first intention was to erect a sugar factory 

 in St. James, but this project was interfered with by the 

 disturbance caused in commercial circles by the earthquake 

 of January 1907. Since then, the scheme has been revived, 

 and the capital for it, a sum of £20,000, has been subscribed 

 already. The situation of the factory will be to the south- 

 east of Montego Bay, and within 2 miles of that place. 

 The company will be responsible for an advance to culti- 



vators of =£5 for every acre of cane-land guaranteed, 

 and for a payment of 12.-^. per ton of cane sent to the 

 factory. 'I'he growing of canes by the comi)any itself 

 is conditional : it will be undertaken only in the event of 

 there being a deficiency in the supply from the cultivators 

 who have come in under the scheme. 



The seci'nd company has a much wider .scope than the 

 one which has just l>een described. It will not confine its 

 attention to sugar alone, but ^\ill have additional interests in, 

 rum, logwood, fustic, mahogany, bananas, pimento, cac\' , 

 cassava, Ouine i grass, and Para grass, so that there will le au 

 unusual diversity in its operations. It has be?:", form d 

 under the nami; of the Jamaica Estates and R'Auber Plarla- 

 tions Company, Limited, with a capital •:. £300,000, naif 

 of which has been subscribed alrea'ly by a syndicate of 

 French banking houses. 



The area over whicli tlie company will extend its 

 operations is 29.971 ao;-3s. and includes fourteen estates. 

 ilr. Charles Mc.Xeil B.Sc, of the firm of John Mc.Nfil & Co., 

 Engineers, Govan, nas made a visit to Jamaica for the .special 

 purpose of gaiv.ing the information necessary to enable hint 

 to report or. the .sites and equipm'::nts of the sugar factories, 

 to be c:nstructed under the sch:-me. He advises the erection 

 of several small, rather than a few large, cential factories, 

 tne number of them to be .'ix, each capable of dealing with 

 20,000 to 2-5,000 tons of canes, at a total cr,:^t of £S0,000. 

 According to the re]iort of ^Ir. W. Fawcett, recently Direc- 

 tor of the Botanic Cardens, Jamaica, the -.verage yield of 

 cane from each acre of land in that island is 22 tons. It is 

 estimated by Mr. McNeil that at least i ton of 96° crys- 

 tals and 112 gallons of i um will be obtainable from 18 tons 

 of cane.s. It is also estimated that the ^ost of production of 

 1 ton of sugar and a puncheon of r .im will be £10 16s. 

 According to the prospectus, the D rectors have concluded 

 that, with .sugar at £11 per ton at d rum at £11 13s. 4rf. 

 per cask, the profit for t-v-ery ]< tons of canes gr.jwn, 

 should be £11 17s. 4d 



The transference of those ^s.ates which are to be taken, 

 over will take ]ilace in time I' ir the company to be in full 

 control for the 1909-10 crops. A\'hen this is complete and the- 

 central factories are all in operation, the area of land under 

 cane cultivation will be 5,000 a'-res, leaving over 24,000 acres- 

 for rubber and other products 



The directorate includes Sir Heary A. Blake, G.C.M.G.,, 

 Sir Edwin Cornwall, M.P., Lord (Jsborue Beauclerk. the 

 lit. Hon. Lord Teynham, D.L J.P., and Mr. Joseph Xolan,. 

 M.P. 



A correspondent writes from Antigua : ' I note that, on 

 page 131 of the AgrUuUum! News of Jfay 1, 1909 (Vol. 

 VIII, Xo. 183), reference is made to experiments which are 

 being conducted at the Pirto Eico Experiment Station in 

 connexion with the indu«-ment of a change from staminate- 

 to pistillate flowers, in the (;ase of the papaw, by the removal 

 of the terminal btid. 



It may lie pointed out, in that connexion, I hat this is- 

 a common practice in Antigua, the removal of the terminal 

 bud being eftected by the rough method of cutting horizon- 

 tally through the trunk of the tree at a distance of :i few feet 

 above the ground. Afterwards, a fiat stone is placeil on the- 

 wound, presumably in order to prevent injury. 



A possible explanation of the fact is that, as f miale 

 organs in plants, are often, in the presence .--f a large supply 

 of food, produced to the |;)artial or entire exclusion of male 

 ones, the plant food which has been stored in the stem 

 affords the stimulus which leads to the change.' 



