114 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Apeil 11, 1914. 



The useful results that may accrue from the study 

 of meteorological statistics broadly, as the outcome of 

 co-operation, is seen in the correlations established by 

 Mr. R. C. ]\rossman of the Argentine Meteorological 

 Ofifice. He has found that whatever may be the causes 

 that determine the general character of the rainy 

 season at Trinidad (B.W.I.),ie. whether the rain will 

 be above or below the normal, the character of the 

 season is usually impressed on the records as early as 

 April or May. In the twenty years, 1876-1895, there 

 i8*,only one year (1878) in which the April and May 

 rainfall at Trinidad was not a direct index of that of 

 the four succeeding months. This is a result of some 

 importance. Again the same observer has found that 

 the physical processes that produced a given precipi- 

 tation at Trinidad ll'N. of the equator in April to 

 September during 1876-1894, were associated during 

 the six months following (October- March) by an oppo- 

 site effect at Azo in the south temperate zone, some 

 2,850 geographical miles distant. Furthermore it was 

 discovered that the rainfall of Java for the six months 

 {October-March) was in general the reverse of that at 

 Trinidad during the six months following. This latter 

 correlation is of considerable significance in regard to 

 crop production. 



Another exanxplej^f an important generalization in 

 meteorology is afforded by Binnie's Law, * which says 

 that there^is universally a cycle in rainfall, ai^d that 

 this cycle (which refers not to individual rainfalls but 

 to the average of three or four consecutive years) seems 

 to have a period approximately equal to thirty-six years. 

 The mean annual rainfall may therefore be defined as 

 the average taken over a sufficiently lengthy term of 

 years to ensure a fairly constant value, and we may 

 assume that thirty to forty years is generally an 

 adequate period. From this it will be seen that five or 

 ten years' records cannot by themselves give us a correct 

 idea of the average rainfall to expect; but if the 

 conditions in a new district are very similar to those 

 occurring in a place near-by where records have been 

 kept for thirty-five years, it is possible, by means of 

 simple proportion and Binnie's Law, to say what the 

 rainfall conditions of the new locality really are. 



Mossman's work and Binnie's generalization have 

 merely been cited to show the kind of research that is 

 needed in regard to meteorology. It cannot be gain- 

 said that they do not help us to standardize the 

 climatic conditions under which crops are cultivated, 

 and it will probably be admitted that the establishment 



*See Agricultural 2iews, Vol. XII, p. 354. 



of such correLations as the Azo, Trinidad and Java 

 relationships is likely to be of considerable economic 

 value in agriculture. 



With a more extended investigation of the air 

 as an ocean instead of as a shallow stream, and with 

 more complete international co-operation in meteor- 

 ological matters, it is to be expected that many 

 useful correlations will be brought out and many 

 general laws established which will help us if we 

 wish it, to humour weather conditions that are likely to 

 occur by growing suitable crops, rather than expect 

 the weather to suit the demands of those crops we 

 have decided to cultivate as the result of other 

 considerations. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



A REVIEW OP THE PAST SUGIR CROP 

 OP PORTO RICO. 



During the past sugar crop in Porto Rico there were 

 grinding in all ninety nine sugar mills, which produced a 

 total of 398,003 tons of sugar, the product of approximately 

 200,000 acres and 4,000,000 tons of cane. 



Supposing that the sugar were sold in New York at 

 an average price of 'Sic. per lb., then the farmers must 

 have received about ■'^14,000,000 for their cane and the 

 factories about .~?28,000,000 for their sugar, and the Ameri- 

 can housewife should have purchased her refined sugar 

 at 4-Jr. per lb.; and meanwhile the United States Govern- 

 ment would continue collecting fifty five to sixty million 

 dollars per annum from the import duty on foreign -agars. 



This very satisfactory state of things is, however, very 

 unlikely to continue much longer, in view of the impending 

 reduction and final abolishment of the sugar duties, and 

 already six important sugar companies are in the hands of 

 receivers, while many have but very little profit, certainly 

 not enough to induce any new capital to come into the bu.si- 

 ness. 



Of the total of 398,003 tons of sugar produced, 181,804 

 tons were produced in factories having an output of 12,000 

 tons and over, of which there are eight in all, from Guanica 

 Centrale, with 51,3*36, to Central Vannina, with 12,006 tons. 



In factories of less than 1 2,000 tons and more than 6,000, 

 of which there are seventeen, from San Vicente, with 11,875, 

 to Central Eureka, with G.OGl, there were produced 145,437 

 tons. And in factories of from 3,000 to 6,000 tons of which 

 there are nine in all, there were produced 43,077 tons, the 

 largest being Central Cortado, with 5,739, and the smallest 

 Central Ejemplo, with 3,683 tons 



While several small mills have been installed during the 

 past year, there have been none of any importance, as the 

 following figures will show : — 



(1) Central Pailejas, the property of the Pallejas Sugar 

 and Cofi'ee Co., is a little mill in the mountainous district of 

 Adjuntas, which turned out 562 tons of very pretty yellow 

 sugar for local consumption. This is a similar installation 

 to that of the Jayuya Development Co , which has now made 

 two crops of 375 and 490 ton.s, respectively, while another 



