Vol. XUI. Xii. -319. 



THI-: A(;nicrLTri;.\L Ni-:\vs. 



OOf) 



ivfnH-touieter, e.stiniates nf rt'duciiij; suli.stances, aiul a large 

 iininUer of other matters. The Look ought to lie in the 

 ])o,sse.ssion of every practical chemist, and can lie obtained 

 t'lom the Director of the Bureau of Standard.s, De|)artiiieiit of 

 Commerce, Washington, D.C. 



American Molasses in Europe. —The same issue 



of llie Liiuiwina Flntiti^r rc|iort^ thai American lilackstra|) 

 molasses is regularly imported into Liverpool to lie used iis 

 a stock feed, and fetches about 91c. per 112 Iti. .\ steamer 

 arrives in IJverpool at intervals of about one month from Cuba 

 carrying a cargo of mola.sse.s in tanks an<l this Cuban mola.sses 

 generally brings 97c. per 112 B). As a feed for .stock the 

 molasses is generally mo.st in demand during winter time 

 ■when artificial feeding is needed most. During 1911 and 

 19rj, the imports of Culian molasses for distillers' 

 use anil as feed for stock was valued at $700,000. The 

 imports for 1912 was valued at slightly over .'?1,0(1(I,0()(). 

 I'or the same two years the I'nited States imports into Liver- 

 po.ll were worth .'*21(),(«l(» and .•*219,0()0 re.spectively. 



The Sugar Industry in Australia. The .May 



issue of ilir Aii!-lrali<iii Swiur ■Inmnat biiiig>out the ititerest- 

 ing point in an article on potash manuring, that the economic 

 advantage of growing a big crop is that it enables a maximum 

 return from a limited area of land and reduces labour 

 troubles owing to the fact that cutters are not as likely to 

 take on work with a light crop as they are with a heavy one 

 of from 'M) to 40 tons per acre. 



• )n another page in this journal a short article deals 

 with experiments with canes from Louisiana and Triniclail. 

 As a matter of fact .several of the varieties which the Austra- 

 lian Svijar Journal calls Louisiana varieties have simply 

 been obtained from that State and weic originally raisiMl in 

 Dcmri;ira and Trinidad, — for example D.117, D.(i()-f, and 

 'I". I'll. T.L'll seems to have done satisfactorily, having 

 given 20,1)91 canes per acre weighing 39'7 tons and 

 yielding .")■:! tons of sugar per acre .V variety i-alled 

 Cassilis gave a yield of 40'4 tons per acre and (Ml tons 

 of sugar. 



RUBBER GROWING. 



RUBBER IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



The following arc tin- eoiiclusioii.s arrivod at 1)V 

 IVIr. ( '. K. Ruicroft, M.A., Assistant Director of Scielici' 

 anil .\i;iicultuio, British Oiiinna, in regard to thv 

 ilrv clindociit of iiil)l)rr gfovving in th.-tt Colony: — 



There are two primary factors which operate in tlie 

 eultivation of I'ara rubber, viz., the cost of bringing areas to 

 maturity and the future cost of production |M'r lb. of dry 

 rubber. That the former can be effected in this country so 

 as to compare not unfavouralily with other parts of the world 

 there appears to be sufficient data in the above re]X)rt to 

 indicate. With respect to the latter there are no actual data 

 available from which to judge. What is at my dis|iosal 

 indicates that the cost of production will not be heavy. The 

 low cost of supervision as com])areil with other rubber-grow- 

 ing countries and the health of the laliour force are factors 

 which are in favour of a reasonable cost of production of 

 ruliber in the colony. It nuist be borne in mind that the 



dominant factor in proibntiun is the cost of tapping, a factor 

 in which organization jilays a most important part. The 

 utilization of women and rhildreen to do this work will 

 naturally lessen the cost of collecting tile rubber. It is not 

 likely that the co.st of production of a pound of dry ruliber in 

 this colony with the present cost of labour, can reach as low 

 a figure as Ific. the cost estimated for some of the better 

 ])lantations in Sumatra and the lowest which has to my 

 knowledge yet been given in any part of tlie world. Hut 

 there is every reason to suppo.se, with a market price for the 

 raw jn-oduct of 48c. (2s.) a pound, that under proper 

 supervision Para rubber can be cultivated in this colony at 

 a fair protit. The relation of supply to demand and of the 

 (jnality of plantation to wild Para rubber are the two factors 

 which will govern the price on the market in the future; and 

 there a])pears to be a consensus of opinion that with a price 

 of 4Sc. (2s.) a pound jtlantatiou rubber might be utilized 

 for |)iu'poses for which it has hitherto not been employed and 

 which will considerably increase the demand for the product 

 in the future. 



The extension of the rubber industry of British Guiana 

 may be etlected by two sources: (1 ) the utilization of local 

 capital, and (2) the introduction of foreign capital. The 

 foiiiier is more likely to ojjerate in the direction of the con- 

 version of previously existing cultivations into ruliber cultiva- 

 tion.s. The latter may be utilized in this way or may be 

 directed towards an extension of the area under cultivation 

 in the cciluny, viz., the conversion of original fore.st into 

 rubber cultivation.s. The conversion of existing areas of sugar 

 into rubb.-r cultivation, a practice which has lieen extensively 

 iiiiplovrd in N'ortli Perak and Province Wellesley (Malay 

 Peninsula), is receiving attention by one private firm. Here, in 

 addition to Para rubber other permanent crops are there being 

 planted iji an existing sugar cultivation with the olyect of 

 retaining the sugar oidy until the other crops are matured. 

 The employment of foreign capital to convert a previously 

 existing cultivation of coffee, cacao and frint trees into 

 a rubber cultivation is in ojjeration on one property. While 

 in another case an extensive area is being tleveloped from 

 original forest by the employment of foreign capital. These 

 threi- enter])rises nnist bi' watched with considerable interest. 



It is jirobable that the establishment of rubber planta- 

 tions by maiuifactnrers of prepared rubber goods will at somti 

 future time be taken ii|i on a larger scale than has hitherto 

 been done, tnore particularly if the quality of plantation 

 rubber can be made toaiiproximate more closely to that of the 

 wild Brazilian product. The proximity of British Guiana to 

 tlie princiijal market for rubber, the United States of America, 

 should otfer inducements to the introduction of capital from 

 the I'nited States for development of rubber in this colony. 

 For this reason the oidy existing enterprise of this nature in 

 the colony must be regarded with special interest. 



.\ useful article appears in the Barbados Education 

 Gazette for .lime 1914 in explanation of the meaning of the 

 term ■(onnage' as applied to steamship.s. Reference is made 

 to ili.^placeinent tonnage which means the actual weight of 

 water displaced by a vessel when she is leaving port fully 

 laden. Gross tonnage is explained as the cubic contents of 

 a vessel's interior: whilst net registered tonnage represents 

 the actual capacity of a vessel for carrying cargo, and it is 

 on this register that all ship's dues are levied. Besides these 

 uses of the word tonnage, there is the 'measurement capacity' 

 and the, "dead weight capacity' both of which have special, 

 signiticaiices in marine commerce. 



